Deploy push-button reset features using Auto-apply folders

In this article

Push-button reset features are included with Windows 10 for desktop editions (Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education), though you'll need to perform additional steps to deploy PCs with the following customizations.

Windows desktop applications

Windows settings, such as customized OOBE screens or Start Menus.

Customized partition layouts.

These steps also show you how to add your own scripts during a reset to capture logs or perform other cleanup tasks.

Prerequisites

To complete these procedures, you'll need a technician PC which has Windows 10 and the following Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10 components installed. Note that starting with Windows 10, version 1809, WinPE is an addon to the ADK, and isn't included in the ADK installer:

Use the follow steps to prepare the ScanState tool to capture Windows desktop applications after they have been installed:

Step 1: Prepare the ScanState tool

On the technician PC, copy the Windows ADK files from Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) and Windows Setup to a working folder. You'll need to match the architecture of the destination device. You don't need to copy the subfolders.

If you are planning to customize only the settings common to all editions of Windows 10 (including Windows 10 Mobile), use the following steps to create a provisioning package which specifies settings to be restored during recovery:

Step 3: Create a provisioning package with settings to be restored (optional)

In the Select project workflow step, select the Provisioning Package option, and then click Next.

In the Choose which settings to view and configure step, select the Common to all Windows editions option, and then click Next.

In the Import a provisioning package (optional) step, click Finish to create the new project.

Use the Available customizations pane to add settings and specify the defaults which should be restored during recovery. The settings will appear in the Selected customizations pane.

Click Export > Provisioning package.

In the Describe the provisioning package step, click Next.

In the Select the security details for the provisioning package step, click Next.

In the Select where to save the provisioning package step, enter a location to save the package (such as a network share) and then click Next.

Click Build to create the provisioning package.

After the provisioning package is created, click Finish.

If your customizations include settings specific to editions of Windows 10 for desktop editions, use the following steps to create an unattend.xml which specifies the settings to be restored during recovery:

Auto-apply folders are new in Windows 10, version 1809. These folders make it easier for you to restore common settings, including unattend, OOBE, and taskbar layout during PBR. You can use Auto-apply folders or extensibility points, but not both. If Auto-apply folders and extensibility points are configured, Windows will use the extensibility points.

Create a folder in your Windows image called C:\Recovery\AutoApply

MkDir C:\Recovery\AutoApply

Copy configuration files and any related asset files into the Autoapply folders:

Description

Files to be copied

Where to put it

During a restore, where does it go?

Start menu

LayoutModification.xml

C:\Recovery\AutoApply\

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

Taskbar pins

TaskbarLayoutModification.xml

C:\Recovery\AutoApply\

C:\Windows\OEM\TaskbarLayoutModification.xml

OOBE.xml

%windir%\System32\OOBE\info

C:\Recovery\AutoApply\OOBE

%windir%\System32\OOBE\info

Unattend file

unattend.xml

C:\Recovery\AutoApply\

C:\Windows\Panther\Unattend.xml

Other asset files

C:\Recovery\AutoApply\CustomizationFiles

C:\Windows\OEM\CustomizationFiles

Note, don't worry about restoring link (.lnk) files used by the Start menu and Taskbar. These are saved and restored using provisioning packages.

Step 5: Deploy and customize Windows

On the destination PC, boot to Windows PE.

At the Windows PE command prompt, run the script to create the recommended hard drive partitions.

Diskpart /s N:\CreatePartitions.txt

where N:\CreatePartition is the location of the file.

Apply the Windows reference image to the Windows partition.

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:N:\Install.wim /Index:1 /ApplyDir:W:\

Optional: You can also specify the /compact option so that the files written to disk are compressed. For example:

Boot the destination PC to audit mode. This can be accomplished by using an answer file with the Microsoft-Windows-Deployment | Reseal | Mode = audit setting, or by first booting the PC to OOBE, and then pressing CTRL+SHIFT+F3.

Perform any remaining customizations such as installing applications and device software packages that are specific to the destination PC.

If you have installed OS updates, clean up the superseded components and mark the updates as permanent so that they will be restored during recovery:

DISM.exe /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Step 6: Capture and deploy customizations for recovery

Use the ScanState tool to capture the installed customizations into a provisioning package. Use the /config option to specify one of the default configuration files included with the ADK, and save the .ppkg file in the folder C:\Recovery\Customizations.

Use the Sysprep tool to reseal the Windows image without using the /generalize option.

Sysprep /oobe /exit

Note Important: You must configure the image that you are shipping to the customer to boot to OOBE.

(Optional) To save space, you can also convert your installed Windows desktop applications into file pointers referencing the customizations package. To do so, boot the destination PC to Windows PE and run the following: